MASSACHUSETTS
NBC Los Angeles
Survivors and family members of those who were sexually abused by convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley spoke out Wednesday after hearing that he is scheduled to be released from prison on Friday.
“Paul Shanley is evil,” said Rodney Ford, whose son Greg’s case resulted in Shanley’s conviction. “He destroyed my son’s life, my family’s life and so many other victims’ lives.”
Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in Boston’s clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly at St. Jean’s Parish in Newton, Massachusetts, in the 1980s. He was defrocked after dozens of men came forward and said he had molested them when they were children.
Shanley is currently being held at the medium security Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said that upon release, Shanley is scheduled to begin 10 years of supervised probation. He is not allowed to have contact with children under the age of 16.
Denis O’Connor and John Harris, two adult survivors of Shanley’s abuse, said they are concerned about the safety of other children and adults upon his release.
“He doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong,” victims’ attorney Carmen Durso said.
Notorious Pedophile Priest Shanley to Leave Prison This Week
The clergy sex abuse scandal exploded in Boston in 2002 after a series of stories by The Boston Globe revealed that dozens of priests in the archdiocese had molested and raped children for decades while church supervisors covered it up and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish. Thousands of victims came forward in Boston and around the world, describing sexual abuse by priests that dated back decades.
Shanley was arrested that year in San Diego, California.
Phil Saviano, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of a different priest, was the whistleblower who exposed the abuse hidden by the church for decades. He said Shanley was one of the worst.
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